The Rolling Stones, "Foreign Tongues"

I had planned to write about this record for my Salon column but then Margo Price released her protest record and I was far more interested in that, so I bumped this out and then felt like I'd both missed the window and didn't have anything that interesting to add to the conversation that hadn't already been said. So I tied up the loose ends and went off-piste because it wasn't for publication and now you get to read it.

What does it mean to be an elder statesman of rock and roll in 2026? When everything started, Pete Townshend was singing “hope I die before I get old,” how the press kept declaring that these new pop groups better save their money and not squander it on fancy cars and bespoke clothes because this rock and roll thing was surely a flash in the pan. In the recent Wings documentary there’s a scene where a fan is talking to Paul McCartney to his face, asking him if he didn’t think that 33 was too old to be still playing rock music. 

But the Stones survived. They persevered through deaths and drugs and drug busts (multiple, not just Redlands, this was an issue in the late 70’s which was not that long ago, or was it), bad management (they didn’t start making superstar money until 1989’s “Voodoo Lounge”) and decades of interpersonal squabbles (not just Mick and Keith, let’s remember that Bill Wyman was in that band once upon a time). 

It is 2026 and there is not just a new Rolling Stones album, there is a major release cycle accompanying Foreign Tongues. The Rolling Stones need you to know they’ve put out a new record and they need you to take it seriously. There are half a dozen vinyl colorways, there are videos, there were secret promotional gigs at its launch. The sheer tsunami of promotion might make you think “This record can’t possibly be very good because they are working overtime to make sure everyone knows about it.”

And yet, Foreign Tongues is better than anyone could hope for. It succeeds on its own merits; it sounds exactly like the Rolling Stones with the advantage of modern production techniques. There are no embarrassing duets with pop singers, no sad efforts trying to adopt au courant styles, no bad rap attempts. They’ve finally both figured out that no one is looking to them for any of those things and are sitting fully in their own comfort zone and owning it. 

It turns out that this is the place they needed to get to, but they were the ones who had to figure out their own route because no one has done this before them. We don’t know what rock and roll should look like when the people performing it are in their 70s and 80s because we’re just arriving at that point. The standard is just now being established.

The Stones finally figured out that people don’t buy a Rolling Stones record in 2026 hoping that the band are going to break any kind of new ground. They were trying there for a while, beginning with Bridges to Babylon (and I have a soft spot for many songs on that record!) and all of us would dutifully troop down to the record store and act like we were excited to listen to Mick sound like someone imitating Mick Jagger trying to rap. 

The aftermath was better, because they finally realized they didn’t have to prove anything to anyone and people would still come see them in droves.But with having no title to defend, in recent years it’s kind of freed them to just go have some fun and the result is more genuinely enjoyable and eminently listenable than they’ve done in years. 

In a fantastic recent interview Mick Jagger and producer Andrew Watt did for Variety, Jagger complains that journalists always want to compare a band’s new music with their previous work. The particular offense was directed at a comparison of “Mr. Charm” from “Foreign Tongues” with “Gimme Shelter,” specifically the presence of a strong female backing vocal in both songs (even though, as Jagger emphasizes in the interview, “Gimme Shelter” “...was more of a solo!”) But “Mr. Charm” could’ve been a Some Girls b-side.

There’s a lot of older Stones on “Foreign Tongues” whether Jagger likes the comparison or not. And “older Stones” in this particular case is the late 70’s and 1980’s, specifically “Some Girls” and “Emotional Rescue,” which are two of the three the last canonical Stones records, which probably points to why this record resonates (or at least it explains why I am actively choosing to listen to it). And as much as Mick wants to complain, people are going to try to situate new material in the context of the songs they already know, at least at first. 

So I drove around listening to this record making these kinds of initial observations: “Jealous Lover” is an Emotional Rescue outtake. “Ringing Hollow” reminds me of “Faraway Eyes” (and I’m not the only person who’s made that comparison). “Never Wanna Lose You” — again, Emotional Rescue. And please keep in mind that Emotional Rescue is and will always be one of my favorite Stones albums. (Maybe in 2030 I’ll remember in enough time to pitch an anniversary piece.)

“In The Stars” is a legit single. It’s poppy, light and floating with enough crunchy chords and heavy guitar melodies to ensure that it still sounds like the Rolling Stones, and not the one okay track on a Mick Jagger solo album. The choruses remind me of modern U2, and that’s more of a neutral statement than positive or negative. (I like quite a lot of modern U2, but not all of it.) I chalk this up to modern production standards and techniques, but am grateful that the Stones don’t feel like they need to avail themselves of all the bells and whistles and compression and similar elements that other bands who are trying to not sound ancient from an aural perspective — although these days, it would probably sound the most current of all. 

The thing we’re not going to be able to find out is how much they believe in this record by how many of these songs would make it into the set, and I have to imagine that a fair amount of them might have done. It doesn’t seem like Mick, Keith and Ronnie want the hassle of touring, and I get that, but that’s what residencies are for. It doesn’t have to be Vegas. They could set up shop in London and Los Angeles for a couple of weeks. There is no way someone in that camp has not made this point to them (and it’s not like Mick at the very least isn’t paying attention to these things). Mick and Ronnie and a random keyboardist in a tiny London club did not make me excited, it just made me sad (and do not tell me “Keith is doing promotion over here.” WHY IS KEITH NOT TRAVELING.) 

(This is the time I miss being on a Stones fan forum because I could pop in and ask, “Hey, what medical condition would make it undesirable to get on planes all the time?” and there would be some lurker with multiple medical degrees who could answer that question. [I DON’T KNOW. I’M JUST GUESSING.] It also doesn’t matter all that much because I am not traveling to see this band in a stadium. I no longer have the patience for everything around the concert (parking! bag size limits! clueless security! people showing up just for the social media clout! dumbasses walking out during the Keef solo number for a soft pretzel!). I can always find a way to have a great time during a Rolling Stones concert. If there was a way to just magically drop me into my spot on the floor 5 minutes before the band was onstage I’d be down with it. I’ve done it. My patience for the nonsense has evaporated.)